Gateway Heroes Origins: XYZ Survivors (ASKU)
by Chaos HellLaser
Summary: It's been months since the Megalith Zygarde incident. Everything in the world is dead and gone. There's no people, no pokemon, no nothing. These four, two trainers and two gym leaders; Ash, Skyla, Korrina and Ursula visit this short story about them adapting to this world of despair. Prequel to Gateway Heroes: XYZ Hunters. Please review
1. Chapter 1

**Remnants**

In the world of Pokémon, you think that there would be tons of fresh air, beautiful lands and new Pokémon living in harmony. Right, well not this time. Ever since the Megalith Zygarde incident in Lumiose City, things haven't been ok. Almost every city in every region was in ruins from the blast wave. Pokémon were dying or fading out of existence from the giant blast wave that hit the Earth. As for people, they have been either disappearing along with the Pokémon, or have been killed in the blast. The blast wave had some type of unstable molecules in it combined with some type of radiation that was killing people and Pokémon in all regions. Very few people survived in each region. There was no communication now since all the power was out due to the explosion. On the ground of the rubble of the Lumiose Gym, there was a red hat that had been torn up from the blast.

A few meters from it appeared a portal, and coming out of the portal was a boy. A boy who looked 16-years-old with wearing a blue collared shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, with black jeans and yellow hi-tops and black fingerless gloves on his hands, on his arms were blue gauntlets that had reached from his wrist to his elbow with razor blades on the edges. This kid was no other than Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town in the Kanto region.

As he was looking at the sight of the Lumiose Gym horrified at what had happened that day where everything had been taken away from him. He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it but it happened, the end of the world had happened and it was all his fault.

"I wasn't strong enough stop it. I wasn't fast enough to save my friends. I wasn't strong enough to protect my best friend." he said silently. He walked over to the giant rock in front of the rubble where his had was lifted putting on the ground beside before walking up to the rock and stopped in front of it. He then closed his eyes letting everything he'd seen settle in his mind before feeling the need to release his anger. He opened eyes and yelled in rage and he threw his right arm in a slashing motion at the rock in front of him and locked himself in that position. At first there was nothing but silence gathering the wind until the sound of a blade cutting through steel hit his ears. The rock was split in half as the top part slowly moved down to the side hitting the ground forming dust from the impact. As the dust cleared, Ash was in the same stance as before but him arm was glowing azure blue with the razor-edged blade extended about 2 inches from the gauntlet, and its length was about 9 ½ inches from his wrist to elbow. Ash was panting from his anger readying himself to make another slash.

As he moved for another strike reeling back his left arm, he felt someone grab his forearm from moving. Out of the corner of his eye he saw red hair flowing through the wind and a blue gloved hand holding his arm in place. As he retracted the blade but kept his arm glowing, Ash turned around to get a full view of his friend. She had dark skin with blue eyes and dark-red hair, wearing a long-sleeved white crop top with white short-shorts, dark blue boots, two dark blue holsters wrapped around her thighs and dark blue straps with white buckles that wrap around her hips and stomach. This was Skyla the former Mistralton gym leader, she came out the portal with Ash to show him the remnants of Lumiose City. Still consumed with rage he intended to hit Skyla behind him but Skyla grabbed both of his arms holding them down.

"Ash calm down, this isn't your fault you know that." she whispered softly.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" he shouted.

"I CAN'T CALM DOWN SKYLA. LOOK AT EVERYTHING'S THAT HAPPENED, THE CITY'S IN RUINS, PEOPLE AND POKEMON ARE DEAD, THE WORLD IS DESTROYED!" he continued shouting. Ash was trying to pull away from Skyla but she wouldn't let go of him. Ash was too angry right now, he wasn't hearing or seeing anything, all he saw was the events of what had happened that day replaying in his head over and over. Skyla pulled back a bit to look at him directly putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Ash, please stop it this isn't going to help you. Your too emotional right now and we can't have you wandering off to who knows where on your own. Last time that happened you were out for two weeks." Skyla said firmly as she stared into his eyes.

"I DON'T CARE!" he shouted once more trying breakaway from her grasp. "I WASN'T STRONG ENOUGH TO STOP THE BLAST. I WASN'T STRONG ENOUGH TO KEEP PEOPLE AND POKEMON FROM DYING! I WASN'T ABLE TO DO ANYTHING!"

Skyla hated what Ash was doing, he was blaming himself for the destruction of their world. This wasn't the boy who beat her a year ago, he wasn't acting like the friendly, confident, and caring person right now. His soul was slowly drowning in darkness. If she doesn't stop him soon…she pushed those thoughts aside as she looked back at Ash as he stopped trying to get out of her arms. She knew he was suffering from this madness and how could she not? She had to go through this when she lost her grandfather back at her home. She remembered him pushing her out of hangar when the roof collapsed on them. She searched the building for him multiple times but all she found in the destroyed hangar was his cane. She burst into tears, crying her eyes out in agony. Her grandpa Miles was the best parent she could ever ask for and now he's gone. She made a vow that day, her vow was to continue living on for her grandpa no matter what. He may be gone but he will never be forgotten.

Returning to reality, Skyla focus back on Ash who was slowly panting and looked like he would pass out from exhaustion. As she was about to scold him for not pushing himself too far, her frustrations turned into sadness when she saw the look in his eyes. He was shattered.

Seeing people dead, Pokémon dead, his friends…all gone…. Brock, Tracey, Misty, Gary, May, Max, Dawn, Angie, Iris, Cilan, Cameron, Bianca, Clemont, Bonnie…. his childhood friend…. Serena…. his mother…...Delia….and his best friend…Pikachu.

" **Serena, Mom, Pikachu** " He felt pain in his heart at the thought of those three. He loved them more than anything in the world. He lost him mom when he heard about his hometown being completely deserted. He lost Serena in blast wave when rubble fell in between them causing part of the building to collapse. He lost Pikachu when…..when…when they both fell. He remembered being told that he lost them when he fell from the tower. He remembered holding onto his partner as they fell but when he hit a bunch of edges from the debris of the broken buildings and lost consciousness before they hit the ground. When he woke up, he'd been told that Pikachu had died from blood loss. He couldn't deal with it anymore, he needed to leave. He needed to lash out his anger somewhere, anywhere to get it off his chest. He was angry at one and one person only….himself.

Tears started to well up in his eyes as his body started shaking. He was angry at himself for not being able to do what he always did and that was protecting those he cared about. He cried silently so Skyla couldn't hear him but he was failing miserably and tears started falling down his face like a river. He was a failure, and he knew that deep down inside himself….he'll always be one.

Skyla noticed Ash started crying when she felt him shaking. She wanted to hug him but was afraid that she might upset him and anger him even more. Instead, she silently watched him stand there and cry until he started sobbing.

She abandoned all worries and pulled him into her chest. She had one hand on his back and the other on his head running back and forth through his hair. At first he didn't respond to her actions and she was about to pull out before she felt him wrap him arms around her waist and buried his face further into her chest as his legs gave out. Glad that he accepted her comfort, Skyla just sat there holding Ash listening to him sobbing.

"*sob**sob**sob*"

"That's it. It's okay, it's gonna be alright." Skyla said softly.

"No, it won't. *sob* it's my fault….my fault that everyone's…" Ash muffled.

"Ash, Ash look at me." she said. Ash refused to look up at her instead he just buried his face into her chest further not wanting to show himself. Skyla smiled a bit at his attempt to avoid her but she knew that she had to tell him the hard truth of reality.

"Ash, I need you to look at me." she said firmly. This time he removed his head but still refused to look at her. Skyla removed her hand from his hair and propped it under his chin forcing him to look at her.

"Ash I know that you blame yourself for this but you can't because this was something you could not stop." He wanted to shout at her, yell at her, make her see it was his fault but no words came from his mouth so he just sat there and listened silently.

"This was out of your hands ok. Even if things were different could you think you would still be able to stop it from happening?" she said sternly making him look away from her. Skyla didn't want Ash to pull away from her but he needed to come to terms with being in a cruel world.

"You can't save everyone." she said bluntly. Ash flinched at her statement, he always saw that if he tried hard enough that he would be able to prevent things like this from happening and everything would be okay. But inside….he knew…he knew that she was right but that's what hurt him the most, he couldn't save anyone. Tears welled up in his eyes again at the sudden harsh truth of reality, he was weak…his weakness caused the end of the world, only one question remains that plays like a broken record in his mind, why…..why was I saved?

Skyla pulled Ash back into a hug as soon as she saw his tears. It also meant that he was coming to terms with reality and was slowly understanding the world around him. She knew that he would take a while to adjust but she would be there for him no matter what and she knew "they" would be too.

After a few minutes, Skyla felt soft breathing against her chest knowing that Ash cried himself to sleep. She tilted his head a bit to wipe away the tear marks on his face. She then examined his arms, thinking that he damaged himself when he lashed out and she finds some blood coming from wrists. _"I need to check on his gauntlets when we get home, they're too dangerous for him to use right now and it looks like it's hurting him more than when he would use it in combat."_ Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a whirling sound coming from behind her. She turns around seeing that it's the portal they both came through still wide open, she wondered how it still stayed open but she would worry about it later after she got Ash away from here. She then tucked her arms under his legs and his back as she got up and walked over to the portal, before entering she stopped turned her head around and took one last look at the terrible sight before her. She wondered if Ash would be able to come back here without feeling guilty but only time would tell. She turned away walking through the portal with Ash in her arms heading to their home.

 **Shalour City: Off Shore House**

About two miles away from the gym sat a small house that was built in a very odd way and on the porch sat a girl meditating, aura flowing around her body. She had very long creamy blonde hair in a high fluffy ponytail with green-grayish eyes and fair skin. She wore a red and black sleeveless dress over her black compression shorts with red and black gloves and boots with heart decals that function as skates. This was the former Shalour City gym leader Korrina. She had turn this place into a more comfortable home when she discovered it. The house was in pieces during the blast….well the top half was. It had to be rebuild after the blast two months earlier. The bottom half of the house was partly destroyed from the blast wave leaving the rooms barely intact while the top half was blown off completely. She repaired the bottom half with her aura when she found it, she had to get help with the top half that had no roof.

She remembered finding this place while looking for grandpa. She lost Lucario when the rubble collapsed on them, he used the last of his aura to protect her. When she came to, she saw him laying still on the ground as she tried to wake him up but he faded away leaving behind his aura passing it on to her. She used it to find her grandpa only to be heartbroken when she couldn't find it at all. She stayed in her old home crying for days at the death of her grandpa and pokemon. She wanted to blame the world for her family's death but she knew that it would get her nowhere. Instead, she decided to search for any survivors within the city but no one was around, all she found were burnt buildings and broken roads. So she went to Lumiose city and looked around at the base of the destroyed gym, she wondered if her friends survive but she couldn't sense anyone within the area. Just when she was about to give up and leave behind a deserted city she heard a groan coming from behind her, when she turned around she saw a girl who was about the same age as her and the boy limped in her arms was none other than Ash, his aura was fading that day and if she hadn't found him…he would have been dead. She was glad she did found that day and met Skyla.

"'Hey Korrina, stop meditating will you, it's getting kind of depressing" Korrina opened her eyes and saw a girl in front of her. She had cherry-colored eyes and dark pink hair tied in black ribbons, wearing a black sleeveless top and a short grey skirt with bandages wrapped around her hands and knees with combat boots. It was Ursula.

"Why do you think it's depressing Ursy?" Korrina said teasingly while closing her eyes. Ursula had tick marks coming out of her head when Korrina called her that name. She wanted to retort at her but she sighed instead.

"I'm saying it's depressing because you've been doing that ever since Sky took Ash with her to Lumiose City and I've been worried about them since they haven't returned yet. Plus, I'm worried about Ash." she said while frowning.

"We all saw how devastated he was when you told him about his mothers and best friend's death. He'll be worse than before, he'll shut us out or do something worse." Korrina couldn't blame Ursula for her way of thinking because she was worried too. When she told Ash the deaths of his family, he lashed out at himself and tried to end his own life that day. She, Skyla and Ursula agreed that until he was ok mentally, he couldn't be left on his own to do anything.

Korrina then stood up from her spot on the porch and patted Ursula on the head. "Don't worry, Skyla knows what's at stake and how he might react but more importantly..." she paused before putting an arm around Ursula and looked up at the red sky.

"We're all here for each other, and no matter what happens we'll always be together and face whatever comes our way together." She finished smiling brightly at Ursula who smiled back.

"Your right Sis, I shouldn't worry so much."

"That's the spirit now enough of this depressing atmosphere, let's go prepare lunch." Korrina said excitingly. Ursula took this moment to get payback.

"I think you should leave the cooking to me Korrina, remember when you tried to make lunch the first time for us, it blew up." she said while shivering at the memory. Korrina's face heated up in embarrassment.

"That was one time ok, I didn't think it was gonna turn out like that but it still looked good." she said while scratching her cheek.

"Yes it may have had the appearance of good food but the taste was…..well I don't think I should put it in detail of what we ate, either way I'm cooking lunch end of story." she finished. Korrina went along with Ursula's reasoning and decided to leave that job to her until she remembered something.

"Wait a minute, didn't we run out of bread the other day or was that something else?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it, no we still have bread. What we ran out of the other day was vegetables and without the vegetables…I can't make lunch." Ursula finished slumping her shoulders in defeat, while Korrina just sweatdropped at her actions.

"You know I can just go find some in one of stores, right?"

"Yes, you could since I know nothing about this region but if I recall I thought we all agreed that if we go anywhere within the area or through one of Skyla's portals that we would go together or in pairs of two." Ursula reminded her.

"Relax ribbon, I know this region better than you and pilot do. Plus, I can sense any aura within the area that seems off. If anything happens I'll send a flare signal calling for help or telling Skyla to come and get me if she comes back with Ash beforehand." she said calmly. Ursula didn't seem too keen on her idea but her thinking was interrupted when they both felt wind blowing in front of them. They saw the airspace circle in on itself before becoming bigger opening a portal, as it opened they saw Skyla walking out with Ash asleep in her arms. Korrina and Ursula rushed over to them in worry.

"What happened?" Ursula asked. Korrina examined Ash's arms seeing some marks of dry blood coming from his wrists causing her to glare at Skyla.

"Skyla, I thought you had this under control. You were supposed to make sure he didn't try and hurt himself!" she said heatedly.

"Calm down Korri. He had a breakdown as soon as we got there. We all knew that was gonna happen and he took his anger out on some rubble but that's it he didn't try to hurt himself this time!" Skyla retorted.

"Then what's with the blood on wrists, I swear Skyla if you let Ash cut himself?!" Korrina shouted heatedly.

"I didn't ok, the gauntlets Ash were using are too dangerous for him right now. When I saw him retract his blades after I stopped his rampage, it somehow cut open his wrists. I didn't notice it till after he cried himself to sleep!" Skyla and Korrina both glared at each other before Ursula went in between them.

"Both of you cut it out right now. You too can have your arguments later, I need to go into town to look for food and Ash needs to recover. So how about this, Skyla you and I will go into town while Korrina stays here and looks over Ash and makes sure he doesn't do anything stupid ok?" she said with her arms spread out trying to lessen the tension between the two. They continued glaring at each other before both reluctantly agreed at Ursula's suggestion.

"Ok but once we come back I'm watching him, I need to look at his gauntlets. They shouldn't be able to internally damage him while he's wearing them." Skyla said.

"That's ok with me." Korrina said while taking Ash from the redhead's arms into her own. Skyla walks away from her back to the portal, changing its location from Lumiose to Coumarine and walking through it. Ursula ran after her not wanting to get left behind but not before stopping at the entrance and turned to look back at Korrina.

"We'll be back before you know it ok?" she said.

"Yeah okay but be careful you two."

"Aren't we always, see ya later." she waved before entering the portal as it closed in on itself. Korrina sighed to herself before looking at the unconscious boy in her arms. She brushed away his bangs at she looked at him in sadness. She could tell by his aura that he was very exhausted. Even though he just woke up a week ago, his body still hadn't recovered from his injuries, but being the stubborn kid he is Ash refused to lie down and heal. She knew she was gonna give him a scolding if Skyla or Ursula hadn't.

" _This isn't fair, not to Ash or Ursula._ _They both don't deserve this, there weren't ready for this."_ She thought to herself.

"Were any of us?...Was anyone?" she muttered to herself. As she talked herself she felt a small spike of energy coming from behind her.

"Did you two forget something or did you….." she paused. When she turned around she didn't see any in front of her there was nothing but thin air.

" _What the heck, I could've swore there was something right there!?"_ she thought to herself. She looked at her surroundings before scanning the area with her aura again but feels nothing like it was never there.

" _H_ _mmmm, that was weird. Who was that and how did they get here without setting off the traps?"_ Her train of thought was interrupted when felt Ash move a bit in her arms. She looked at him and saw beads of sweat coming off of him. " _He's having another nightmare and each of them is worse than the last. I'll tell Sky and Ursy about earlier when they get back right now I need to keep Ash calm."_ Korrina walked back to the house focused on helping Ash. As she walked back a cloaked figure from the distance came out of hiding staring at them, mostly at Ash. Silent tears came as the figure walked out of sight thinking one thing _. "He's alive, Ash is still alive."_

 **Coumarine City (Destroyed):**

Skyla and Ursula were walking through the ruined city with cracked pathways, demolished buildings, and dead trees. The city that was once known for its clear skies and atmosphere now had red skies and a creepy atmosphere, much to the girls' dismay.

"Ok If I remember correctly, If we take this path broken cobblestone path down a bit we should be able to reach the shop in no time." Ursula said.

"And how do you know that?" Skyla asked her curious. Ursula stopped walking when she heard the question.

"I…uh…I kinda….." she trailed off.

"You do what?"

"I get bored sometimes and come explore the ruins of what was left behind." She said lightly keeping her gaze away from Skyla who looked at her in bewilderment.

"You WHAT?!"

"Sorry!"

"I remembering you saying that you don't know anything about this region."

"I don't but I've read about some of the cities before the incident, but I mostly remember this one."

"I only come here though, that's it. I don't try to go to other regions besides Sinnoh and that's bad enough for me." Skyla sighed in annoyance as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"So its not you trying, it's more of you don't want to go." she said making a point.

"Yeah that's it but there's a reason for it." Ursula frowned at her. She didn't want to go back to Sinnoh, because just like Ash, she couldn't accept that she lost her family and pokemon except she had better control of her feelings and will gladly go to Skyla or Korrina for comfort as where Ash would keep it to himself and try not to make others worry about him when clearly they all know that doesn't work. Going back there….would just bring up painful memories.

Skyla was annoyed At Ursula for running off to different places without her or Korrina knowing but she kinda understood why she did it. They have to be able travel around freely and can't be cooped up in the house everyday like a prisoner. She needed to get out. No. They all needed too, but right now with Ash and Ursula its not exactly the best choice right this instant.

"I…umm….well" she fidgeted while shuffling her feet and trying to get to the point.

"It's ok, you don't have to tell me because I see why you don't want too." Skyla interrupted. Ursula looked at her in shock.

"Did you read my mind because it sounds like you did?!"

"No I didn't pink tails, I sort of figured out why you go out and I understand it."

"You do?"

"Yes" she answered with a reassuring smile as Ursula sighed in relief,

"But please tell me or Korrina where you are going before you run off."

"I promise."

As they both continued walking they both stopped and saw what was once a beautiful tree in this city now a dead, and rotten tree giving off a nasty vibe. Skyla and Ursula both shivered as the wind blew through them giving chills down their spines.

"Even the tree didn't survive. You think all the people and pokemon that died would rest in peace don't you?" Ursula asked solemnly.

"Yeah but at least they are with their families and friends."

"And we're still here." Ursula finished as she walked off. Skyla couldn't help but notice her voice laced with venom. It sounded like she hated being here and wanted to die. Skyla had no idea what brought her to be like that but would ask about it later. Her mind went back to Ash and wondered if he felt like this too but wouldn't show it. They all knew that he would always help others with no regard for his own safety but when he needs it, he tries to deal with it all on his own which worried her to no end. As much as she admired him for his actions, she doesn't want him to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"HEY SKY!" Ursula shouted snapping Skyla out of her stupor. She looked up and saw Ursula a few meters ahead of her waving her arm back and forth. "Come on, we're almost there."

"Coming!" she shouted back as she ran to catch up to her.

 **Coumarine City Shop (Destroyed):**

"Well here we are." Ursula stated as she looked at the outside of the shop. The windows were wide open and the glass was all over the sidewalk broken into tiny little pieces.

"Careful walking in and out, there's broken glass everywhere." Skyla warned. She and Ursula carefully stepped over the broken glass and walked into the shop.

"Ok stay here I'll be right back."

"Wait why?"

"Because I know the place inside and out, plus in the back door right there has a small greenhouse that I have been trying to keep up and running before it somehow finds a way to power down." Ursula explained.

"How were you able to find any power at all, almost every backup generator within the reason was either destroyed, fried or buried beneath debris?" Skyla asked.

"Well when I first came here, I saw that there wasn't much to find until I heard something."

Ursula then pointed to the right side of the wall with Skyla following. "You see that broken wall right there with a pile of broken bricks?"

"Yeah what about them?"

"I used my bladegun and fired a small beam at the wall because that's where I heard the sound coming from." She said proudly before receiving a hand slap to the back of her head.

"Oooooooowwwwwwww" she groaned as she rubbed the back of her head. "What was that for?" Skyla turned to her and glared.

"Are you nuts? You can't use your gun on something that looks like it's about to collapse on us at any second!" she exclaimed.

"Relax will ya! Right before I did that, I check for any weak spots to where I could fire my gun without bringing down the building." she replied while Skyla once again pinched the bridge of her nose.

"*Sigh* I don't know what I'm gonna do with you Ursula." she sighed while Ursula smirked at her.

"Well you can't do anything about it cause your pretty much stuck with me aren't you?" Skyla smiled back at her.

"Yeah. I guess I am."

"Ok I'll be right back this shouldn't take long." she informed Sky before heading off. Skyla walked around a bit looking at what's left of the shop. She saw the shelves to her left broken down but the pillars were still standing. She saw a clock completely broken and she knew she could not repair it. She wanted to look for clocks that weren't powered through electricity and were still working but she couldn't find any.

 _"_ _There's got to be a clock somewhere in this city and I can't go back to Lumiose since the power plant that runs their electricity is completely fried. Maybe I could search with Korrina when she's available and not meditating like she does all the time."_ she thought. She was then brought out of her thinking when Ursula tapped her shoulder surprising her a bit.

"Oh sorry, you just spaced out again Sky. You know one of these days you gonna be completely stuck in your own world for who knows how long and I'll be right there ready to scare the pants out of you." Ursula snickered while making motions with her hands.

"Yeah yeah I get what you're saying, and for your information I'm wearing shorts not pants." she corrected.

"Short shorts you mean?" Ursula countered while she tried to stifle her laughter.

"You know what I mean." Skyla said as she waved her off.

"Ok do we have everything you need?"

"Yep. It's all right here in this basket."

"Do I even want to know where you got the basket?" Skyla asked.

"Nope, it's a secret." Ursula finished by putting a finger to her cheek.

"You and your activities." Skyla sighed before she clapped her hands together.

"Alright, let's go home."

"Right." Skyla opened up a portal with the image of their house showing as she and Ursula walked into it. As the portal closed, across the street on the rooftop of a building there were two figures. One was in a blue cloak while the other was dressed in purple.

"I see that Ursula survived the blast, but who was that with her?" the one in the blue asked.

"That was Skyla, she was a gym leader in Mistralton City but I have no idea why she's in Kalos. And how was she able to do that?" the one in purple stated.

"I don't know but for now let's head back and regroup with Blaze and Spark, and please don't antagonize Spark when we get there, okay Terra?" she sighed.

"Alright Wave. I won't antagonize Sparky when we get there ok, I won't do it…..much." she smirked.

"Let's just go." Wave said ending the conversation as she turned as disappeared leaving behind mist leaving behind an angry Terra.

"Ugh I hate it when she does that." She muttered as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop going back to her hideout.

 **Next Time:**

 **Chapter 2: Evil Opposite and Madness**


	2. Chapter 2

**Evil Opposites and Madness**

In the Lumiose Badlands, a cloaked figure was seen walking as if nothing mattered. The figure was in an orange cloak showing only their orange low tops and covering their face. In their right hand, they seem to be holding what appears to be a handle of a sword but the blade was not attached as if the sword was supposed to look broken. As the winds died down, the figure stopped walking and looked left and right as if something or someone was coming. The figure waited a few more seconds hearing nothing and continued walking to their destination when suddenly, a growl came from behind them. The figure stopped again only to avoid an attack as they jumped high into the air, flipping backwards, and landing gracefully on their feet. They then looked at the attacker.

"So, this is what happened to the Pokémon and humans that died?" the figure said their voice sounding is was feminine. She looked back at the animal before her and chuckled a bit.

"Heh, heh. You know you remind of someone who had a Pokémon that look just like you but only smaller, and your color is orange not green." She snickered while the undead creature continued to growl at her. She laughs as if it was the funniest thing she's ever seen before until she stopped.

"It's funny but at the same time it's pathetic." She said as she looked at the ground her eyes glowing yellow with electricity going around her body. The large undead mouse Pokémon backed away in fear.

"It's pathetic because you were his partner and you didn't protect him. It's pathetic because he cared about others more than himself. It's pathetic because he sacrificed himself to protect everyone but now…now he's gone." she said silently to herself before she snapped her head up in rage and anger.

" **AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"** she shouted at the electric type before she was instantly right behind it with her back facing the animal catching the Pokémon by surprise. Before anyone knew what happened it was too late, the only sound heard through the air was a slash. Everything stood still until a small thud was heard. The undead Pokémon hit the ground slowly disintegrating into ashes and scattered along the windy atmosphere. As the winds blew along her cloak it revealed the sword from earlier was grasp in her hand outstretched to her left, as the dust scattered away from her it revealed the broken sword into a new form. The lightning that was around her transformed itself into a blade connecting with hilt, as flowing around itself continuously before disappearing as the figure disable it and put it back in her cloak before continuing to walk to her destination.

 _"_ _I'll never forgive them... I'll never forgive team Flare…I'll never forgive this world."_ she thought angrily before thinking about her other companions.

 _"_ _Wave and Terra should be there by the time I get back, as for Blaze I'm not sure. Whenever she wanders off she intends to be gone for a few days, a week at most."_ _She stopped walking as she brought up her best friend. "And just like me she hasn't been able to forget him yet either."_ she thought.

" _I know the four of us changed but she changed the most. She became cold and heartless, being emotionless around others but around me she's not."_

"I wonder what she's doing right now, she said she was going to Shalour City for something important and sent those two to Coumarine. Either way, I better hurry to the power plant and recharge the power cells before I forget." she continued walking before she groan at what she just remembered.

"Uh. I swear if I must deal with another one of Terra's antics, I'm gonna fry her mouth just to shut her up. My name's Spark not Sparky or any other name she calls me." The figure known as Spark kept muttering to herself on how much a pain Terra is as she continued walking not knowing that someone was watching her.

 **With Korrina and Ash:**

Korrina was sitting in chair next to a bed where Ash was. He was sleeping with a scared expression on his face. His breathing was erratic and sweat poured down his face indicating that he was having a nightmare. Hearing him whimper in his sleep, Korrina grabbed his hand sliding her thumb back and forth over his palm offering him as much comfort as she could. She was glad it was working as his breathing slowed down, and unconsciously gave her a gentle squeeze.

 _"_ _That's it Ash. Just stay calm ok, there's nothing here that can hurt you." She thought as she smiled at the sleepy head._ Korrina knew how to keep him calm but not as much Skyla. She was better at these situations. They both took turns comforting him and Ursula whenever they had nightmares. Ursula never really had a problem with them but she would go to them from time to time. Ash on the other hand, he was a mess.

 _"_ _We couldn't trust him to not try and run off on his own. He's blames himself for everything that's happened, and earlier today we told him that none of us blamed or hate him for not doing his best."_ she frowned as she thought about his recent actions. If anyone was to blame it was Team Flare. They were the ones who summoned Megalith Zygarde and destroyed the world. They've hurt…...killed innocent people and Pokémon. But…. deep down, she knew that Ash didn't think like that.

She looked back him thinking about his past nightmares, they all involved those he cared about dying right in front of him or he was falling in darkness hearing their cries for help. Every night they would get worse and Ash would have a hard time sleeping. He wouldn't sleep unless her or Skyla force him to, they didn't like it but he needed to get help. Her face twisted a bit as she thought about Skyla. She was angry at the redhead, she knew that she wanted Ash to face the outcome but it was too early. She remembered seeing him unresponsive when they tried to talk to him, she saw that look in his eyes where he wasn't there. The Ash they all knew was dying while the new one was slowly surfacing and it scared her. He just became silent, he still talks from time to time but barely. He may've talked about his problems with us but only because he was doing for our sake and not his own.

" _Once again, Ash is thinking about others then himself. You really do care more about others than yourself huh" she thought._ _I've seen the inside of his aura, he's deepest thoughts and feelings are buried deep within him, all the anger he feels at himself, all the guilt he's carrying… it's too much."_ she ran a hand through soft hair, smiling as he leant into her touch. Korrina then thought about his aura.

 _"_ _His aura changed. I knew something had changed the moment he and Sky came back. Instead of just feeling positive energy in him, I saw red. And I know that trauma can change a person but not their aura, something feels off here."_ Korrina heard Ash whimper in his sleep again meaning the nightmare was getting stronger. While she continued her ministrations to keep him calm, she closed her eyes and focused on connecting their aura.

Sky blue aura flowed around her body and azure flowed around his. As this happened, Korrina didn't notice Ash's aura turning dark red. Once it connected with hers, she looked in to his mind and saw something terrible. All she saw around her was a trail of bodies human and Pokémon alike. There was blood everywhere it made her sick. Then she heard someone chuckle behind her, as she turned around her eyes widened in shock and horror. She saw someone that looked like Ash but darker, she tried to get a closer look but the next thing she knew she felt something stabbed her. She looked down and saw a hand that went through her body holding her heart as she slowly coughed up blood. When she looked up, she saw a terrifying smile before she felt the hand crush her heart killing her.

Korrina woke up from her trance in stress. Sweat poured down her face and her breathing was heavy. She looked back at Ash seeing him still asleep. _"_ _What on earth was that?! Whoever that was, it wasn't Ash. He was different. He felt cold and malicious and he smiled when he killed me."_ Korrina slightly trembled at the thought of death. Even though it was all in her head if felt so real.

Korrina then felt a surge of pain in her head. She let go of Ash's hand and shot out of the chair gripping her head tightly. She then heard something in that sounded like a voice.

"…get…...out" it said.

"…get out…get out…get out…." The voices became louder and louder in her head as she clutched her head tighter.

"…...GET OUT!" it shouted making Korrina scream in pain. She tried to calm down and meditate but it the pain hurt too much for her to even start. She kept hearing them get louder and louder until…...it stopped.

"Huh?!" Korrina released her head as she stood up looking around the room like something was there but there was no one. This made her feel uncomfortable, she was sure she heard them but where did they come from. She sighed thinking it was her imagination again before….

 ** _"_** ** _I wouldn't do that if I were you."_** Korrina turned around slowly and was shocked at who she saw. It was Ash, not the one that asleep but the other one. He looked exactly like Ash but his eyes glowed red and red aura flowed around his body but he looked like an astral projection. The one that killed her, what was he doing here and how did he get here?

 ** _"_** ** _You know I have to admit, I wasn't expecting someone to actually go inside his head to try and figure out his "aura" problem." He chuckled manically as he made air quotations on the word aura._**

Korrina was frozen in shock and speechless at what was happening right now. He looked at her before chuckling to himself.

 ** _"_** ** _Heh heh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Ash, the real Ash." he smirked maliciously._**

"YOUR NOT ASH! THERE'S NO WAY HE CAN BE SOMEONE AS CRUEL AS YOU." Remembering Ash was still asleep, Korrina clamped her hands over her mouth.

 ** _"_** ** _Relax, he's fine. I'm out here which means he can't hear or do anything." he told her._** Korrina sighed in relief before glaring back at the intruder.

 ** _"_** ** _Are you gonna glare at me the whole time or what?" he asked._**

"Who or what are you?" she asked.

 ** _"_** ** _Like I said I'm Ash but not your Ash. I'm his darkest thoughts, his darkest feelings, basically his other half."_**

"Other half of what?" she asked.

 ** _"_** ** _Ash's other half…... his dark side."_** Korrina was about to say something before he held a hand up to stop her.

 ** _"_** ** _Before you deny and say Ash doesn't have a dark side, I'm gonna have to tell you you're wrong. Everyone has a dark side. Some people won't admit it because they don't want to embrace it while others aren't afraid to and will gladly accept it to use for their own purposes and do not care who they hurt to make their dreams into a reality. You have one, Ursula and Skyla have one and Ash has one which is yours truly."_**

"But how are you…." she trailed off.

 ** _"_** ** _Out?" he finished as she nodded at him._**

 ** _"_** ** _I've been buried in him for years, ever since he started his first adventure actually. When Mew and Mewtwo were fighting against each other while hurting Pokémon in the process I was there. When Team Rocket kept trying to steal his Pokémon only to be stopped by Ash, I was there too. And when Hoopa's dark side took over, I was there. For years, I've been trying to manifest myself into physical form or just take over his body and have it act as my own but he always been resistant to let me do that."_** Korrina was left speechless at his statement. How long has he been fighting his darker half? **"** **He"** said he's been with him since his journey but that could've been when she met Ash the first time.

"How long have you been inside him?" she asked.

 **"** ** _Well, adding all the regions we've been in and how long it took to travel through each one, and including Kalos, I say for about six years." he said._** Korrina looked at him horrified at the revelation. Six years. Six long years he had to deal with his dark side and had told no one about it.

" _Dang it Ash. Why? Why aren't you letting anyone help you? Why do you intend to do this on your own? What's going on with you?"_ Her thoughts were soon interrupted when she heard coughing.

 ** _"_** ** _Ok, I've been out here for too long which means it's time for me to go back inside my host or your friend, however you want to put it I really don't care." he said as he started to fade._**

"Wait, where do you think you're going?" she glared at him.

 ** _"_** ** _In case you have forgotten, I can't stay out here for too long so I'm going back to sleep inside him. I wouldn't try to stop me if I were you, if you or the others in some way force Ash to talk that's just makes it easier for me to take over. So, if you want keep him safe you better heed my warning skater-girl. By the way, since his name is taken you can call me Dark." he finished before he disappeared completely._**

Korrina just stood there, taking in everything that had just happened. She just met the sick version of Ash named Dark, and he's willing to take over his body but something was odd about it. He told her his warning about forcing Ash to talk, what did that mean? Would something bad happen or is he just messing with her head. Either way she needs to inform Skyla about this.

Speaking of her, she heard the door open and Ursula shout that they were home. She looked back at Ash seeing a troubled look on his face before it changed to peaceful. She wondered how was he able to be at peace after what just happened. She was so lost in her thoughts that she let out a small yelp when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Skyla and Ursula standing in front of her, the latter laughing a bit at Korrina while holding the basket of vegetables.

"Wow Korrina. You and Skyla are both too easy to scare. You both give me endless opportunities whenever you zone out." Ursula said trying to hold back her laughter while Skyla just groaned at her. Korrina was still frozen from earlier and just stared at the two.

"Hey Korrina, are you okay?" Skyla asked. No response. Skyla then did the next best thing she thought that would work. She slapped Korrina on the back of her head.

Snapped out of her trance, she yelped in pain while glaring at Skyla. "Ow, what was that for pilot?"

"We called out to you twice and you didn't respond, so I snapped you out of it."

"And you couldn't think of anything better than slapping me?" she exclaimed.

"I could if I wanted to but I didn't." she deadpanned.

"Gee thanks."

"Ok before you two go back into your daily quarrel, why don't I make us lunch and Korrina…." Ursula trailed off.

"Yes?"

"I want you to spar with me afterwards." she finished.

"Why not Skyla?"

"I have to fix his gauntlets remember."

"Oh right."

"Alright then, I'll be in the kitchen and will call you when lunch is ready. Bye." Ursula finished as she walked downstairs with the basket in her hands leaving Korrina, Skyla and Ash.

Skyla turned to Korrina with a concerned look on her face. "Are you sure you're ok, you were shaking a bit?" she asked. Unlike Ursula, she noticed Korrina trembling when they came back from their hunt.

Korrina looked back at her with a serious look on her face and spoke. "We need to talk. While you guys were gone, I went inside Ash's mind." This put Skyla on red alert wondering what was Korrina thinking as she pulled her out of the room and pinned her arms against the wall.

"You WHAT? Why would you do that?" Korrina forced Skyla's hands off her arms before continuing.

"When you took him to Lumiose, his aura was normal and wasn't wavering but when you came back it changed."

"Changed? How?"

"It was red but that wasn't it. When I went into his mind I saw something that was so horrifying."

"What did you see?"

"I saw bodies Sky, dead bodies. People and Pokémon. And Ash, he wasn't normal. He was cold-hearted and malicious. When he…" she trailed off. That event still shook her.

"Korrina?" Skyla called.

"When he killed me…. he just smiled. No remorse, No regret, no sadness…. he just smiled." Skyla gasped in horror at what he she just heard. Ash killed her but how? He was trying to save everyone not end their lives.

"I was so scared at what I saw Sky…...I…...I wanted to leave." she said as tremors went through her body. Korrina was afraid to go back there, she knew it was an illusion but it all felt so real. Skyla didn't like seeing Korrina like this. She was terrified of what she saw and she was having a hard time telling her this since she experienced it.

"Korrina, Korrina, look at me." she saw her starting to breath heavily and trapped in her own torment. Her knees gave out as sweat poured down her face and she gripped her arms to anchor herself. Skyla crouched down to her and wrapped an arm around her, pulling Korrina to her and letting her head rest on her shoulder.

"Breath, Breath. Just relax okay, don't force yourself. Calm down and tell me the rest when you're ready." she comforted the aura gym leader. She rubbed her hand back and forth along Korrina's back comfortingly easing her panic attack. Korrina's breathing slowly went back to normal as she relaxed. As much as she wanted to stop, she needed to tell Sky the rest, there was no way she could handle Dark all on her own. She needed her help it would make things a lot easier to handle.

"When I woke up from that illusion…." she said silently. Skyla waited patiently for her to continue.

"I heard voices in my head telling me to get out. I don't know if it meant to stay out of Ash's head or what but it was freaky." Korrina said as Sky nodded.

"Then, as I turned around I saw him."

"Ash?"

"Yes, but he isn't actually Ash he just looked like him. The only different was his eyes they glowed a very bright red. Anyway, he calls himself Dark. he manifests himself off Ash's thoughts and regrets. He's been inside him for 6 years trying to get out but Ash has been fighting real hard to keep him from surfacing."

"6 years? Does that explain Ash always trying to leave on his own?"

"It's possible but I don't know all the details. Right before Dark left he told me not to force Ash into talking about this but I wonder if he was trying to warn me or mess with my head." she finished.

"Either way, this is really bad. Now that we know about this we need to talk to Ash about Dark." Korrina turned her head to look at Skyla like she was crazy.

"Are you insane, we can't just force Ash to talk about this. What if we trigger Dark to come back out or worse possess Ash?"

"Hold on a minute, just here me out. We tell him about your encounter with Dark but we don't force him to tell us about him. If he doesn't want to talk about then that's his choice not ours but if the situation gets out of control, then we step in. Does that sound fair?" she asked Korrina.

Korrina thought about this. On one hand, they could not do this and wait for Dark to come back and make his move so they could stop him but it might not end well but on the other hand, they could go with this plan and be prepared for him and hopefully get more answers out of Ash to keep him and Ursula safe. Speaking of her…...

"What about Ursula, do we tell her about this?" Skyla shook her head at the question.

"No, we already got enough problems on our hands. I don't want her to get caught up in this plan of ours and like me she worries about him like an overprotective sister sometimes." Korrina decided add her own piece to that statement.

"Well, you worry about him like an overprotective mother hen most of the time." Skyla blushes in embarrassment as she looks away from Korrina.

"I….do not."

"Yes, you do and I also like to mention that you give us all the look whenever we do something stupid."

"What look?" Skyla asked curiously.

"Uh no reason. No reason at all." Skyla just looked at wondering why she would say it like that before she shrugged it off like it was nothing. Korrina though, inwardly sighed in relief.

 _"_ _The one where you look like a mother scolding her child, that's the look I'm talking about. Of course, none of us would ever say that to her directly."_ She thought.

"Alright, but I mean it Korrina. Are you in or not?"

"I'm in. But if Ash loses control of himself we step in right away ok?"

"Right."

"Thank you for um…. helping me share that and for being patient." It was Korrina's turn to blush as she looked away from Skyla.

"No problem. You would've done the same thing for me." Skyla said as she ruffled Korrina's hair a bit. She then stood up and gave Korrina her hand to grab. She grabbed it and stood up along Skyla as they both stretched.

"Come on, let's go downstairs I want to see what Ursy is making us this time."

"Sure, but I don't think it's a good idea to scare her for earlier."

"I know but it would be fun."

"As much I want to follow I got check on Ash's gauntlets remember? Plus, him arms need medical attention."

"Oh, I already did that. There was no severe damage to his wrists, they were just minor cuts that's all." Korrina reassured her.

"Thank you for that."

"No problem. Later!" Korrina said as she ran to the stairs and skated along the railing down. Skyla just laughed at her childish antics before she walked back into Ash's room. She wanted to check on his gauntlets but she thought that when he wakes up, he could watch Ursula and Korrina sparring match with her.

She heard soft moaning coming from Ash. She walked to the bed and sees him moving around a bit. At first, she thought he was having another nightmare and was ready to comfort him until she heard him yawn. As he turned his body to her, he stretched out his arms a bit before stopping. Ash slowly opened his eyes and he saw a hint of white in his view. He looked up and saw Skyla standing over him smiling.

"Hey there." she said softly.

"Hi." He replied turning his legs over the bed.

"How do you feel?"

"Ok." he said in a monotone voice making Skyla frown at him.

"Ash…."

"You were right…You can't save everyone that's just how life is." Skyla just stayed silent as she listened to his words. Ash just kept his gaze down toward the floor.

"I didn't want to believe it though. I wanted to prove it wrong. I wanted to show that everyone can be saved if I tried hard enough." Skyla only frowned at him knowing where his thoughts were heading.

"But deep down…. I knew…I knew that it was true." he finished. There was silence for a few seconds before Skyla sat down next to him.

"IT's true you can't save everyone…." She trailed off noticing him clenching his fists.

"But…." She wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulled him against her chest and rested her chin on his head.

"That doesn't mean you can't save those around you. If any of us were in trouble right now, you would do whatever there is you can do to save us, right?" she asked.

"Yes"

"Let me tell you something Ash, sometimes sacrifices have to be made to save someone we care about." She heard him whimper a bit before continuing.

"No one likes a sacrifice but do know why we do it anyway?"

"We do it because so the people we care about live on." Ash then lifted his head to look at her as she smiled down at him.

"Live on with their lives so they can be happy but also so they could never forget about those that gave their lives that made it happen."

"So, do you understand of why we are here now?" she asked him, still smiling.

"Yeah, a little. I still don't like what have to be made but I can't let that stop me from trying." he said as he looked at his hand and clench it into a fist.

"Skyla, could you and Korrina train me?"

"You don't even have to ask. Me and Korrina have been training Ursula ever since we found her, she wants to get stronger just like you."

"Thank you and I'm sorry for earlier when I shouted at you." Ash said sincerely while looking down at the floor. He felt something unexpected. Skyla pressed her lips gently against his forehead leaving him red as he looked up at her.

"W-w-w-what was that for?" he stuttered. Skyla giggled at his actions of trying to talk, it was cute.

"For being you Ash."

"What do you mean?"

Ash…...No matter what happens don't lose sight of yourself ok, and please don't hesitate to ask for help from us ok, we care about you too."

"I…..."

"Promise me that you will?" she pleaded.

"Okay I promise." Skyla sighed in relief at his answer. Now she hopes that he will follow up on his promise.

"Good. Now when you're ready meet us downstairs for lunch."

"Ok I'll see you down there." Skyla left the room leaving Ash by himself.

As he was alone, he thought about earlier when Korrina talked to Dark. He wasn't awake but he could still hear what they were saying thanks to Dark being connected to his mind.

 ** _"_** ** _I told one of them to heed my warnings of trying to deal with me if not careful, question is will they follow through or not?" a voice said._** Ash froze as shivers went down his spine. He just had to come out now. He turns around and sees Dark leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He also looked around the room and noticed that everything stopped moving. He walked to the window and saw that the clouds in the sky have stopped moving and he couldn't feel any wind coming through him.

"What do you want?" as he turned around and glared at his evil self.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh relax, I just came out to see if you were awake or not because you weren't asleep when I talked with that little friend of yours. You know the one with skates." he chuckled._** So, he knew that Ash was listening back then. This isn't good.

"Why are you here then, what else could you possibly want?" he asked frantically. He wasn't afraid of what he would do to him, he was afraid of what he would do to the girls.

 ** _"_** ** _I think that your friends need to know that I'm not just your thoughts. They need to know that I really am you. Just more twisted." he smirked darkly._**

"You are gonna stay away from them and again you are not me." he glared at Dark.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh really, then I guess you don't know how terrifying I am. This is you after all. You created me."_**

"No I didn't. Let's make this clear. As long as you are inside me, you can't do anything to hurt them and you can't take over my body no matter how many times you try." Dark's smile went from evil to malice.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, really then let's see how far you will go to protect them." he finished as dark tendrils appeared around his body and shot forward to Ash grabbing his arms and legs. Ash struggled breaking free before he saw another tendril from Dark aiming for his head. After that he blacked out._**

 **Ash's Mindscape:**

Ash woke up and looked at his surroundings. There was nothing there, nothing in the space except him and his own shadow which was white. He then smelled something horrid but he couldn't see where it was coming from.

 _"_ _What is that odor, it smells like…."_ He froze once he figured out the smell it was blood. Why did it smell like blood, it wasn't his own? He continued walking in the dark abyss when suddenly, a bright flash blinded Ash. When the flare was gone, he opened eyes only for them to widened in horror. He saw bodies, dead bodies.

"What, what is this?" he asked. He saw bodies of people and Pokémon. Ash felt like he couldn't breath as he started to hyperventilate and grabbed his chest tightly. All this horrified him this…... this massacre. He walked backwards in fear that he didn't notice who was right behind him. He felt something hit his feet, he turned around and wanted to cry in despair. He saw Skyla, Korrina and Ursula dead at his feet.

Korrina had a hole in her chest and both of her eyes were missing. Skyla had one eye missing, her arm and leg were missing as blood was sprouting out of them. Ursula was just ripped in half and her head was turned backwards as her hair covered her eyes. Ash just dropped to ground at seeing his dead friends. Dark decided to come out of hiding and appeared behind him enjoying Ash's suffering.

 ** _"_** ** _Having fun?" he asked sarcastically._**

"W-w-what is all of this?"

 ** _"_** ** _This my friend is a reality waiting to happen."_**

 ** _"_** ** _How?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _You couldn't fight me anymore. Your body gave out before I took over and just went mad crazy on becoming a killer. The people behind us were survivors I found after traveling through the other regions. Your friends in front were the first ones to go. They tried to stop you but none of them stood a chance." he said._**

 ** _"_** ** _Ursula was the first one though, you went behind and slash her in half. Korrina and Skyla on the other hand, put up a fight having a hard time stopping you but in the end, you tortured them to death very slowly." he finished._** Ash listened silently to his story wanting to cry in despair.

 ** _"_** ** _So, tell me Ash, how long will it be until you lose control to me, how long will it be until you kill your friends huh?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Either way you lose and you can't stop me." He looked at Ash for any response but nothing came out of his mouth._**

 ** _"_** ** _Well time for you to go back until next time Ash." he said as a bright flash filled eyes._**

 **Reality: Ash's room**

Ash opened his eyes seeing himself back in the real world. He looked around seeing everything was the same when he left. After looking outside, he walked to the nearest corner away from the door and window and collapsed to the ground.

He hugged his knees tightly and cried silently to himself, everything that just happened finally settling in. In Dark's world, it wasn't just real to him, it was what would happen if he lost to him. It was an inevitable horrible truth that would soon happen and he couldn't change it. So, he just sat there and cried and cried. Cried because this time it was his fault. Cried because he became a killer.

He cried because he killed his three friends…his family.

 **Next Time:**

 **Chapter 3: Training, Breakdown and Aura Hunters**


	3. Final Chapter

**Training, Breakdown, and Aura Hunters**

 **Lumiose City Gym Tower:**

Spark was walking through the ruined city toward the gym tower with her cloak still covering her face. It was a small base of operations for her and the others. Even though it was ruins, there were some parts of the building that were still standing. She would come here to try and locate what we she encountered in the badlands earlier, a soulless Pokémon. She didn't have a name for them yet but it was probably better for her. Naming someone or something was more of Terra's thing.

 _"_ _Still it's annoying how something that was the center of destruction and killed thousands of Pokémon and people remains standing."_ Spark thought angrily. She came to a stop at the front entrance. The doors were automatic but now there are stuck shut and glass that was within were shattered into millions of pieces. They now laid around the bottom of the doors.

"Heh. Great, I forgot about the glass." She said annoyed at the glass in front of her.

"Why didn't anyone try to clean this up or move it aside for crying out loud? I mean Terra can just pound them into the earth, Wave can just turn it into ice and shattered, and Blaze can just burn it away." She continued but stopped when she remembered something about Blaze.

"On second thought, maybe it's not a good idea to suggest Blaze. Last time I asked her to burn something instead of just the object, she burnt down the entire building." she said remembering their time at Anistar City.

When she and Blaze visited the gym, Blaze told her to wait outside until she returned. Five minutes later the whole thing was in flames. When Blaze came out, Spark went to ask why she decided to burn the whole place but she saw something in her eyes that she never thought was possible coming from her.

Hate.

 _"_ _I know that when comes to anger I have issues, but Blaze…... I see it in her eyes. Her eyes were full of hatred but for who…Fate? No that's not it is it, is there more to this than I think there is?"_ she thought questioningly her friend. She shook her at the problem, either way she would come back to it later she needed to focus on the matter at hand. She came here for a reason. As she looked up at the building once more she took off her hood revealing her face. She had blue hair and brown eyes. Around her neck in what used to be an orange bow tie is now a small orange scarf, and her headwear was gone.

"Now let's see what you've been hiding." She grinned maliciously as she walked inside the Lumiose Tower.

 **Back to Ash and the others:**

Despair. That's all felt right now. He had his arms wrapped tightly around his legs and was in a fetal position. He just sat there and cried. When Dark showed the future of him and his friends but what was eating him is that he did it. Even though Dark told him that his body gave out and he took over and killed, it was still him. What was the sick part in this…...was that a small part of him enjoyed it. Enjoyed tearing people's limbs off, gutting their torso's wide open and spilling blood, or ripping them in half.

As he was thinking about this, Ash had to force himself to keep from vomiting, all these thoughts about was tearing him up inside.

 _"_ _I did that. I can't believe it I was the one who did all of that. That can't be the future…. can it?"_ he thought fearfully. He was thinking that his evil self was probably trying trick him into believing it was real. But all that wasn't a trick, it felt real. It was too much for Ash to think it was a lie, it was the truth.

 _"_ _I can't stay here. I'm dangerous to them. I don't want what happen to them in my mind happen for real. I want them safe."_ he thought frantically. He removed his head from his knees and looked up at the window. He was wondering if it he should get away from while he was still in control and **"** **he"** can't hurt them but it also meant he was breaking their trust in him. He was in a bind. Would he stay here and risk putting the girls in danger or would he leave and keep them safe even if it meant losing them? He thought back to girls and the role they played.

Ursula is the same age as him but younger by a month or two. She saw him as an older brother, and Korrina and Skyla as older sisters. She is pushing herself hard so she could protect them unlike her other family. She couldn't handle her first loss and the second would kill her. Next, he thought about Korrina.

Korrina is the fun/serious type of older sister. She would meditate most of the time but every occasionally, she would try cheer Ash or the others up with something she would come up with like fighting. She would fight because to her actions speak louder than words. She thinks it's better to fight because it shows us our feelings, that way she could come up with some suggestions on how to fix the situation but also, she wanted them to know that she is there no matter what and won't lose them to anything. Last, was Skyla.

Skyla is more than just a sister to him. She's the oldest and a little more mature than Korrina. She acts like a mother figure to him….to all of them. She was always the first one to know when something was wrong. She could just sense it and would be there ready to talk, ready to give comfort when him or Korrina or Ursula needed it. She is rarely strict with any of them but when it comes to keeping them safe she will act like it when necessary. He knew that she still remembers her grandpa sometimes and how he saved her from dying. She still mourns the loss of him but she told herself to live on and never forget him. Skyla also looks out for everyone and will be constantly worried when one is missing or hurt. She is someone who reminded him of his mother Delia. Skyla will always be there and won't let anyone go without a fight.

He gripped his knees once again thinking about his decision with a heavy heart. He had only left a few words leave his mouth before he went into deep thought.

"What do I do?"

 **With Skyla, Korrina and Ursula:**

The three girls were downstairs doing their own activities. Ursula was making lunch in the kitchen, Korrina was in her room training and Skyla was in the living room thinking. Each were unaware of what was happening upstairs. Ursula said she was making sandwiches but she also told Sky and Kori to wait a bit longer because she had something else to cook. Knowing Ursula, when it comes to surprises she likes to keep it a secret. Skyla was wondering why Ash didn't come down with her for lunch, maybe he wasn't hungry or it could be something else. Either way, it didn't ease her worries. It's been an hour. While she continued thinking she failed to notice Korrina calling out to her saying "Look out". There was a projectile heading straight towards her. Skyla's hand moved fast enough to catch the projectile with one hand on auto. Korrina let out a breath of relief glad she didn't hurt Skyla, before walking up to her and calling out to her again.

"Hey Sky." she said nervously. Skyla just looked at her annoyed.

"Korrina, why did you throw a bone straight to my face, are you trying to kill me?!" she exclaimed.

"What!? No, no, no nothing like that." Korrina waved her hands frantically.

"Then what happened?" she asked again, Korrina just looked away from her before explaining.

"Well…" she trailed off.

 **Flashback: (Korrina's Room)**

Korrina was practicing on the training dummy with Bone Rush. She hit the target with a barrage of hits to both sides of the waist before ending it with a kick to the chest. She was tired, she needed get her mind off her meeting with Dark. After taking her foot off the dummy she started wondering about Ash.

"He's been fighting Dark off for so long. Keeping him from trying to surface has been taking its toll on him." She said to herself.

"Question is how much longer can he hold him off before he loses? And will he be the same Ash we know and love if we stop him? Can we save him?" she continued.

 _"_ _Wait what am I saying, of course we can save him. We just…... (sigh) we just don't know how."_ she thought to herself. She really wished she knew how to help Ash right now, but she hasn't mastered aura on her own yet. She always trained with her grandpa and Lucario, they were better at this than her but now that they're gone she's been meditating a lot to understand it and how she can use it to help herself and her family. She then felt her stomach growl making her blush in embarrassment.

"Boy, I must've starve myself through training. When is Ribbons gonna be done with lunch, I am really hungry." she said to herself walking out of her room and making her way into the living room. She was twirling her weapon around her fingers very fast along the way and when she came into the living room she lost control and it flew out of her hands and headed straight towards Skyla.

 **Present: (Living Room)**

"And that's what pretty much happened." Korrina finished nervously. Skyla just looked at her blankly before sighing.

"Well your mind was still conflicted with Dark and you decided train instead of meditating so I can't exactly blame you for it." She said. Korrina once again sighed in relief before feeling something hit her on the head.

"OOWW!" she yelped in pain. Skyla whacked her on the head.

"Next time, come out of your room without having a weapon and don't throw at me again."

"I told you it was an accident and actually that was the second time I had almost hit you. The first one was earlier when I threw one of my aura bones at the dummy but it bounced off and made a hole in the wall and almost hit you." she explained pointing to the wall with the hole shown. Skyla just looked dumbfounded at her before pinching her brows in exaggeration.

"Sorry." Korrina apologized.

"Just be careful okay." Skyla hands her back the staff. Korrina just laughed while rubbing the back of her neck. She then remembered what Sky had told her earlier.

"Oh yeah that reminds me, did you find what caused Ash's gauntlets to malfunction?" she said.

Skyla's face turned serious when Korrina brought it up. "Actually, after seeing what happened he can't use those gauntlets anymore."

Korrina raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean he can't use them anymore?" Skyla left to get one of his gauntlets and as soon as she returned, Korrina's eyes widened in shock. The inside of the gauntlet had spikes all over the wires and blood was covering the entire thing.

"H-H-How…. How is there that much blood within the gauntlet?" she asked frightened.

"Touch the gauntlet?"

"What?"

"Just do it." Korrina didn't know why Skyla wanted her to do that but she didn't question her reason. So, she moved her hand and pressed it on top of the gauntlet, as soon as she did she gasped at what she saw. She quickly removed her hand and clutch it in pain. She looked back at the weapon and saw small shadowy tendrils coming out of it. At this time, Ursula came out of the kitchen and walked into the living room with oven mitts.

"Okay everybody, I finished making lunch. And I add a little something to go with our sand…. wich…es" she trailed off. Korrina and Skyla looked at her in shock. They didn't want her to see the injury Ash had sustained.

"What is that? What is that in Ash's gauntlet?" she asked.

"Ursula, this is something that has to do with aura. I don't think you would understand what it exactly is." Korrina tried explaining to her. Ursula wasn't fooled for a second. She knew what this was she just hope she would tell them in private but it looks like they found out after her.

"Sis, I'm not stupid. I know it came from Ash, but now of his own free will right?" she asked. Her question put the two back in shock because she knew what it was too.

"How?" Skyla asked.

"How did I know?" she asked again as the two nodded their heads.

"Can we talk about it with Ash, I want him to be here for this too?" she asked while shuffling her foot back and forth. Both girls looked at each other before looking back at Ursula. Skyla put the gauntlet down on the table and locking it up in a cage before speaking.

"Ursula I don't know if we should tell you this but…gasp" Skyla said before gasping. She felt something was wrong with Ash. She couldn't explain it but she knew something was wrong. Her chest felt a pang of guilt she didn't know why but maybe Ash was feeling guilty. Why was he though?

"Sky what's wrong?" Ursula asked but before she could get an answer Skyla just ran past her and up the stairs. Skyla ran into Ash's room and saw the window open. She ran to it and looked out the window hoping Ash didn't run and saw nobody out there. She closed the window and was about to alert the others but when she turned around she saw Ash at the far corner of the room with his knees curled against him and his hands in his hair and his head was hidden in between in his knees. Skyla approached him slowly, as she got closer he was shaking and heard him saying sorry repeatedly.

"Ash." she called. Korrina and Ursula entered the room this time and saw Ash in the corner, both worried at his lack of response.

"Ash are you okay?" Ursula asked.

"Ash what happened"? Korrina called out. By now Skyla was in front of Ash on her knees, she's trying to figure out what he was guilty about.

"Ash. Please snap out of it, it's us." Ursula called out to him as well. She sat by Ash trying to get him out of his unresponsive state. Korrina was observing the whole thing, she wondered if Dark came back and may have said something to put him like this or try to take over his body again. She then used her aura to try and sense any of Dark's around the room and she found some of his being in the air not too long ago. She looked back at Ash and saw something in his eyes. Despair, Guilt, and Fear.

 _"_ _Dark must've said something to put him like that."_ She thought as she kneeled and put a hand on his shoulder but as soon as her hand made contact, he was brought out of his silent state and things were about to go downhill.

"Heh." Ash flinched at the contact and looked up. He saw Korrina and Skyla looking at him with worry and Ursula right next him looking at him with the same eyes.

"Ash calm down, it's just us." Ursula said trying to sooth her surrogate brother by rubbing her hand in circles on his back easing his tension. It didn't help, Ash then realized all three of them were right here in front of him and feared for them. He screamed and jumped out of their hold, open the window and crawl through and landed on the ground.

"ASH!" the girls ran to the window and saw Ash looking back at them with tears in his eyes. Dark's words playing in his head repeatedly.

 ** _"_** ** _How long will it be until you kill your friends huh?" he reminded him._** Ash couldn't let that happen, he would rather be alone then hurt them. He decided right there that he would leave them behind. Tears running down his face as he said one last word before turning away and running to wherever his feet took him.

"…. Goodbye"

 **Back to the girls:**

Ursula knew that once Ash jumped out of the window, he wasn't going to be easy to find. When she saw him run off, she could read his lips and what he said hurt her. He was leaving them but why?

 _"_ _I'm not letting you leave. I'm not losing anyone else."_ She mentally shouted as she jumped out the window and landed on her feet, Skyla and Korrina not far behind. She was about to run after him before she felt a pair hands wrap around her waist stopping her. She looked back and saw that it was Skyla holding her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LET ME GO WE NEED TO FIND HIM!" she shouted trying to wiggle herself out of Skyla's hold for her to only tighten her grip.

"Ribbon calm down." Korrina called only to anger Ursula even more.

"I'm not calming down until my brother is back with us and you keeping me here isn't helping!" she continued shouting.

"Ursula, Korrina is right calm down. We don't need to worry about finding Ash." Skyla said trying to reassure the angered pinkhead.

"Why shouldn't we be worried!?" she asked glaring at them both as a pink aura surrounded her. Korrina and Skyla both flinched at her gaze, she wasn't the girl they'd knew before, right now she was someone who was ready kill them if they didn't let her go.

"Because Ash couldn't get that far even if he tried without us knowing where he is." Korrina told her making Ursula look at her in question.

"What do you mean?" she asked before receiving her answer.

"When I was focusing on his aura, I channeled some of mine into him that way if he ever ran off or went missing I could sense where he is and look at his surroundings to figure where he is." Korrina explained.

"Wait did you do that with all of us?" Ursula asked again. Korrina nodded her head and then closed her eyes as her bright red aura started channel around her body. She began breathing slowly to sense Ash's aura. Ursula was watching in amazement while Skyla just smiled at her.

"What is she doing Sky?" she asked her.

"She's finding Ash. She's using her aura to focus on her hearing and sight, that way she'll be able to tell where Ash is." Skyla explained in the short version.

"Cooool." Ursula said unconsciously. Korrina then opened her eyes as they and spoke.

"Found him. He's at the caves outside of Shalour." She finished as her eyes went back to normal.

"Why would he go there?" Ursula asked her.

"He wouldn't. He'll just run wherever his feet takes him, he doesn't have anywhere else to go." Skyla said with sadness in her voice.

"Why?" Ursula asked. Korrina and Skyla both looked at her.

"Why did he leave us? Is he really that depressed that he can't come to us and talk about, or… before she could continue Skyla placed her hand on Ursula's shoulder interrupting her.

"Ursula, Ash wouldn't leave us."

"But…"

"You looked at him straight in the eyes, right?"

"Yes but…."

"No buts. Tell us what did you see in those eyes of his." She told her sternly. Ursula didn't understand why she was asking to her tell them but instead of arguing she thought back to Ash. When she looked into those eyes she saw sadness, guilt and…. fear.

 _"_ _He was afraid for me, for us."_ she thought.

"I saw sadness and fear but it was mostly guilt." She frowned. Korrina then said her piece.

"HE's guilty because of whatever Dark said to him, his mind is plagued by his nightmares and something else." She explained.

"Who's Dark?" Ursula asked. Skyla and Korrina both explained who Dark was and his history with Ash. While listening to this, Ursula's chest that felt pangs of anger at Ash was now leaving her body and feeling guilt and sadness. The regret was for thinking that Ash would leave them of his own accord while sadness was for how it was affecting him and how long he had to fight his evil half on his own for a long time.

"I-I didn't know that he had this problem for so long. Now I feel worse for thinking he would just up and leave like that." Ursula said feeling worse than before. Skyla pulled her into a hug comforting her.

"It's ok Ursy you didn't know. I didn't know either until Korrina told me. We're all afraid for Ash, we just have to hope that he won't do anything to intentionally hurt himself." she said. Ursula then raised her head at Korrina.

"How close are we to the caves?"

"Not far, if we take the short cut through the forest we should get there in five minutes." Ursula released herself from Skyla and raised her fist in the air.

"Okay, let's go find our brother and bring him back home!" She said with determination in her voice.

"Right!" Skyla and Korrina both shouted. They then ran to the caves to find Ash with Ursula thinking on one goal.

 _"_ _Hang on Ash. We're coming to find you and this time… you won't be fighting_ _ **him**_ _on your own anymore. We're a family and family fights together."_

 **With Ash:**

Ash's feet took him to the caves outside of town. He remembered that this was when him, Korrina, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena had come here, Korrina and Lucario were coming here to master the control of mega evolution. He chuckled to himself thinking back to old memories, but he thought more about Serena. He was figured out her feeling for him when they ran into Miette and Aria. At first, he didn't think on it too much, but as time progress his feelings started to surface for her but he couldn't tell her he felt the same way. Not when he had problems with Dark. As long as Dark was around, his friends and loved ones would never be safe from him. So, he chose to let her go for her own safety.

He gritted his teeth in anger at his other half. He wanted to hurt him, make him suffer for everything he's put him through but if he did, he would just stoop to his level and would become a monster himself.

"DARN IT" he shouted in anger slamming his fist on a nearby rock. Until Dark was taken care of, he can't be near anyone. His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of growling coming from behind him. He turned around and something that horrified him.

"What the…!?" he saw a pack of Houndoom or what he assumed to be Houndooms. They're bodies were entirely green and it looked like some of them had small octagon pixels on parts of their body.

"This must be a side effect or something from the blast." He said observing them. He felt his aura spike up sensing danger he quickly turned left and saw one of them running towards him with their jaws opened. Before he could do anything, he got bit in the shoulder.

"AAAHH!" he gasped in pain feeling the houndoom's teeth breaking his skin and leaking blood. He closed his eyes in agony and hitting the soulless dog off his shoulder. He grasped his shoulder in pain breathing heavily. The next second his eyes changed from bright orange to scarlet red. He knew what was happening Dark was taking over.

 _"_ _This is bad. He's coming out and I can't hold him much longer if this keeps up…..."_

 ** _"_** ** _What you think I will go after your family or former family and kill them?" Dark asked him._** Ash flinched at the word former. He wanted to tell Dark that he was wrong and that they were still his family…... but he could also be right. He ran from them. He left them behind for their own safety only to lose them. They may think he left them…No they do.

 ** _"_** ** _Relax, there's no need for me to go after them, since you ran off. I think that they've decided to forget you since I don't sense them coming after us. Face it, you're all on your own." He told him while smiling evilly._**

"No, they wouldn't do that… they…. I" he stuttered.

 ** _"_** ** _What more do you need for me to show you that I was right. No matter where we go, you will always endanger those around you and will either get them killed or lose their trust. So, stop playing hero, and let me take over for a little bit. Come on, all I'm gonna do is take care of these soulless Pokémon around us and go back into your mind that's all." Dark told him pretending to act civil._** Ash couldn't trust him but what us was there for him to do. He'd lost his family again and their trust.

 _"_ _I guess he was right I really am meant to be alone."_

"Fine. You win." Ash said defeatedly making Dark internally laugh maniacally. Ash eyes closed again after flickering between orange and red for a while. Another Houndoom decided to make another bite attack. As the Pokémon was about to bite again, Ash smiled evilly and the next thing that happened was that the Houndoom was cut in half.

The Pokémon landed on the ground with a thud and turn to dust. Ash's aura started forming around him, it was red, scarlet red and gave off a nasty feeling in the air. The pack of Hounds started to back up and whimpered in fear. Ash's hair covered his eyes as he started laughing. It started off slow before it went into a full blown evil laughter. As he calmed down, he revealed his glowing red eyes and raised his hand to the side materializing a weapon.

 **"** **Heh heh heh, now it's my turn to play. Except this time, it's not a hero…. It's a killer." Dark said smiling evilly and dashed to the Houndoom ready to rip them in half.** During the whole time this was going, someone was watching him. The figure from earlier watched in shock at what just happened. The figure was watching him in a tree high above and far from the caves. The figure took off their hood revealing their short honey blond hair and blue eyes. This was Blaze.

"What happened to you, this isn't the boy I knew from camp?" she asked herself before shaking her head.

"Doesn't matter. Don't worry Ash, I will find a way to free you from Dark and your madness. And when I do, we'll be together again, I will make sure of it." She declared before flames surrounded her body in spiral formation and dispersed making her disappear.

 **With Ursula, Korrina and Skyla**

The girls were running toward the caves and fighting what looked like Pokémon along the way before Ursula gasped in horror. Skyla and Korrina turned to her puzzled by her expression but she was shaking and struggling to tighten her grip on her bladegun.

"Ursula what's wrong?" Skyla asked walking up to her. Ursula dropped her weapon and grabbed her chest as she started to breath erratically. Skyla eyes widened in horror at what was happening, Ursula was having a panic attack.

"Ursula, what's wrong?"

"…. Gone." Skyla and Korrina confused at her answer.

"What"

"He's gone. A-A-Ash he's…." Ursula then ran to Korrina and grabbed her shoulders.

"Hey what's going…?"

"Korrina, tell me you can still sense him, tell me Ash is still there!?" Looking at her, Korrina could see the desperation in her eyes. Korrina then started to focus on sensing Ash, her aura glowed bright red searching. As soon as she found Ash, she was met with an evil laugh and it forced her to wake up and gasp in horror.

"Korrina what happened?!" Skyla asked her seeing fear in her eyes.

"It's Ash. He's been taken over by Dark when I found him his eyes were glowing red and he was laughing." Korrina explained. Ursula shook her head in denial not wanting to believe that they lost Ash.

"No that can't be true, he just started opening up to us and now he's gone. He can't be gone already not when we were so close." She said venting out her frustrations.

"Ribbons…." Korrina called out to her as she placed a hand on her shoulder before Ursula shrugged it off.

"No."

"Ursu— "

"I SAID NO!" she shouted startling Skyla and Korrina. Her eyes changing from Cherry to pink and her aura flowed around her dangerously. She walked a few steps away from them trying to calm down but it didn't help.

"I should've told him about me knowing his nightmares, I should've told him that he's slipping away from us. But I didn't instead I hoped for him to talked to us and look at what happened." She said as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Suddenly, a growl came from behind them. One of the soulless Zangoose was still alive and was preparing for an attack. As it raised its claw ready to strike what happened next was shocking. A slashing sound was heard and the Zangoose was split in half falling to the ground before turning into dust. Skyla and Korrina turned back to Ursula seeing her holding a different weapon. Her bladegun was now turned into a scythe, instead of one razor edge blade it had two, one above the other. Ursula eyes were glowing pink and she was glaring aimlessly at the now dead Zangoose.

 **"** **Well would you look at that, someone was trying to sneaky and that's just not nice." She said, her voice was different, it was being echoed. Her voice sounded from a lost little girl to a sadistic malevolent woman.**

 **"** **Hmm, well your dead so I guess that's mean I can't have fun torturing you while I'm out here." She turned around slowly looking at Skyla and Korrina.**

 **"** **But you too however…." She trailed off as she dipped the tip of her scythe into her left arm cutting her skin a bit releasing a bit of blood.**

 **"** **Look like you can entertain me for my excitement for a little bit." She finished as she took two of her fingers dipped them into her bleeding arm and put them in her mouth for a taste making both girls winced at her.**

 **"** **Mmm. This girl's blood is not bad. It's tastes like cherry…sweet."**

"Who are you?" Skyla slowly asked not liking the fact that Ursula has her own demon in her like Ash with Dark. "Ursula" just chuckled a bit before talking.

 **"** **Sorry sister, as much as I would love to give you my name I'm starting to go back into your sister's mind. So I will see you around I guess." She said as her eyes started to blink back and forth through pink and cherry.**

 **"** **Oh right, before I forget…. my name is Cerise."**

Ursula eyes were changing back to normal as she stood still for a second trying to process what had happened. Skyla and Korrina weren't sure if this was their Ursula so they called out to her slowly.

"Ursula… Ursula is that you?" She opened her eyes, they were cherry colored meaning that this was their Ursula.

"Yeah it's me…. what the?" She trailed off looking at her weapon wondering why it looked different and why there was blood on her arm.

"What happened?" she asked slowly. Skyla and Korrina looked at each other in confusion before looking back at Ursula.

"You mean you don't remember?" Korrina asked.

"You mean me yelling at you guys about Ash then yes but the rest I don't I blacked out after I got angry." She said with hints of bitterness in her voice.

"Ursula…." Skyla called out before Ursula interrupted.

"Can we just…. not talk about it please?" she asked with sadness.

"Ribbons, he's not gone."

"But I felt him…."

"His aura may have changed but his mind is still there it's just buried under Dark's control." Ursula looked at Korrina with shock before running up to her.

"You mean we can bring him back?" she asked with hope in her eyes. Korrina smiled at her while placing a hand on top of the pink girl's head.

"Mmhmm." Ursula gave her a death hug.

"Thank you Big sis. Thank you so much!" she said with joy not noticing that Korrina's face started to turn blue or that Skyla had her arms around her trying to pull them apart. Ursula calmed down and let them go.

"So how do we get him back?" Before Korrina could answer they heard a cry of pain.

"What was that?" Skyla asked.

"That sounded like the cry of a Houndoom. I remembered seeing some that a while ago back at the caves." Korrina said making Skyla raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"Wait a minute, I thought you said that there were no Pokémon near the caves."

"There aren't but I encountered some green looking like Houndooms like we did with these Zangoose from earlier. Come on, it's coming from caves." Korrina said as she started running with Korrina and Ursula not far behind.

They arrive at the entrance of the caves and are horrified at what they see. Houndooms and Zangoose packs were all over the place it was terrible. Saying that they were killed it was an understatement.

"Oh.."

"My…"

"God…" Korrina was frozen in shock, Skyla turned away from it and Ursula hands flew to her mouth. They all couldn't stand it, even if they weren't alive no Pokémon should've been….

"Tortured. They were all tortured." Ursula said shivering in terror. Seeing this, Skyla grasped her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"I know that they weren't alive but this is just cruel." Korrina said angry at the situation.

"Whoever did this is gonna pay." She said clenching her fists. Skyla placed her other hand on Korrina's shoulder doing the same thing she did with Ursula.

"We'll focus on that later right now our main goal is Ash and he's not far from here, so let's go."

"Right!" they both shouted.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, don't worry you don't have to go far…."_** A voice said from behind them. They turned around and saw Ash or who they thought was Ash. He was wearing the same clothes but his color went from black and blue to black and red and his shoes that were yellow have also turned red.

"Is that…" Ursula trailed off as Korrina nodded her head.

"Yes, that's him alright. Ash's opposite or inner demon Dark." She answered her.

 ** _"_** ** _Ah, if isn't skater, pilot and pinkhead." He said referring to them. Ursula let out a hissed "hey" at her nickname for him._**

 ** _"_** ** _So, what brings you three here I doubt it's taking a nice stroll out in the woods, no better the caves?" he asked them._**

"Save IT Dark! We're here for Ash not you, so let him go!" Korrina shouted. Dark just looked at her blankly before laughing in amusement.

 ** _"_** ** _HAhahahahahaha, oh that's just rich. And here I thought you really were going to abandoned him after he didn't keep his promise to you." He said grinning darkly at them._**

"What are you talking about, what do you mean abandoning him?" Skyla asked in confusion making Dark laughed harder while clutching his sides.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh my god, it was hilarious. All I told him was how you guys would forget him after he left you, how he can't fight me anymore and how he would just endanger all those he cares about and how he was a killer from the start." He stated making the girls flinched in horror. He continued his explanation while sitting on a rock._**

 ** _"_** ** _I mean come on, if I knew that it was gonna be this easy to be free I would've done this years ago. Hahahahahahahahaha" he finished with laughter not noticing the girls gaze at him or that Ursula had her scythe out ready to attack._**

 ** _"_** ** _Aw what's wrong, Angry? HA HA GOOD. It gives me more reason to believe that you would put a fight." He said as he showed his sharp teeth and grin._**

 ** _"_** ** _Don't Disappoint me." He finished as red aura gather around his body. He materialized a red aura sword, it was jagged on one side and straight on the other. He held it in both hands and got into a fighting._**

Ursula was about to disappear behind Dark and attack but Skyla put a hand out stopping her.

"What are you doing Sky, out of my way!?" she growled. Skyla shook her head at her anger. She and Korrina had to be the one to occupy Dark while she….

"Ribbons you'll be going in Ash's mind and bringing him back while Pilot and I keep him distracted." Korrina said materializing a staff made of bones."

"Wait me, but I can't I never done that before!?" Ursula told them unclear of what to do.

"I know so think of it as training." Korrina told her.

"Training!?"

"Yes training."

"You want me who has little experience on aura to enter our brother's mind who also has a little experience and is acting insane right now, to bring him back while you two fight him?!" Ursula shouted.

"Yeah that's pretty much the idea." Korrina smiled playfully at her while Ursula just looked at her in bewilderment before slumping in defeat.

"Okay but how do I get there?" this time Skyla answered.

"Leave that to us. I attack from a distance and Korrina will attack up close and we will both switch every often, when he's wide open that's where you get him. When you channel your aura into him, your mind will be in there but your body will remain here." She explained.

"Right anything else I need to know about this?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing much except that whatever damaged you received will be real. You have to tell yourself that it's nothing more than an illusion." Korrina stated while Ursula nodded.

"Okay, ready?"

"Ready!" they both shouted.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, this is gonna be fun." Dark said before charging at him with incredible speed._**

Dark then jumped in the air and slammed his down towards them. Skyla grabbed Ursula and jumped right while Korrina went left and dodged the attack just right before Dark hit them. The impact created smoke and left a crater of where his sword hit the ground. Smoke clears up revealing Dark standing on top of his sword.

Unamused by his attack he jumps off his sword landing on the ground and looks around to where they could've gone. Skyla and Ursula were hiding behind the rocks while Korrina hid behind a pillar.

"Okay, Ursula you stay here. Me and Korrina would trap him long enough for you to go inside Ash but wait for us to call you okay." She told her sternly. Ursula nodded at her and stayed in her spot while Skyla jumped over to the rock close to Korrina and signaled her. Korrina looked at her wondering which plan of attack they needed to do. Skyla signaled her 'Speed Breaker' and she nodded. Korrina climbed up the pillar while Skyla went to a different waiting for their opportunity to attack.

 ** _"_** ** _Come on out you little bugs, I wanna see how long you can keep me satisfied before I leave. You can't hide forever you know." He shouted hoping to hear a response but was met with silence. He growled at this and started heading towards the caves angered at his boredom. As soon as he turned around he heard something move and looked back. He was met with 4 throwing knifes and quickly dodged them but not before one scratched his cheek drawing blood._**

 ** _He used his feet to slow down and saw a shadow looming over his and looked up. He saw Korrina descending towards him with her bone staff and attacks._**

"HAAAAAAH" She shouted swinging her staff down. Dark rematerialize his sword just in time to block the attack. Korrina then bounced off his sword landing on ground before rushing to attack again releasing a barrage of strikes.

Dark kept his guard and blocked her attacks to him noticing something. Her attacks were coming at him faster than before. ' ** _What, is she getting faster?' he questioned before receiving a hard kick to the stomach that sends him flying to Skyla who appeared behind him._**

 ** _'_** ** _CRAP!' he cursed inwardly before getting hit from behind. Skyla send a kick towards his shoulder hearing a sick crunch from the impact and sends Dark flying to a tree._**

 ** _"_** ** _AAAAGGHH" he felt his shoulder dislocated from the kick. He then felt 4 more knives penetrate him to the tree, two in the shoulders and two in his arms. He looked up in anger at the two girls cursing them for their plan of attack._**

 ** _"_** ** _I don't get it why would you guys attack me when I inside your friends' body if anything I thought you would've held back and are you trying to kill me or save you friend because 4 knives in the body is not a good idea?" he asked curious of their response._**

"We are holding back, why do you think Skyla aimed for the shoulder instead of his back. We needed to paralyze you so Ursula could enter Ash's mind without you interfering. As for your second question, Ash's aura is unbelievably high and is able to heal faster than us and we couldn't let you be able to stand and fight again so I had Skyla aim her aura fused knives into your shoulders to block your aura with our own." She explained.

 ** _"_** ** _Alright I have to admit that's actually pretty clever. Though I doubt this would hold me for long." He said as he smirked evilly._**

"We don't to stop you, we just needed to stall you, Ursula if you may." Skyla called out to her. Ursula jumped down from above where Dark was pinned. She looked back at her 'siblings' unsure if she could do this.

"I know I'm supposed to do this but what if I fail and I can't bring him back, what if we lose him forever?" she said frowning. Skyla and Korrina could see the fear in her eyes but they knew that she had to be the one to do this. This is her chance to talk to Ash, she's the only one he hasn't talked to.

"Don't worry Ursula, if something goes wrong we'll help you from out here. We must stay out here because someone has to make sure Dark doesn't break free. We know you can do this okay, we're right here and we're not going anywhere." Skyla told her calming her down. Ursula nodded at her before turning back to Dark.

 _"_ _Don't worry Ash, I'm coming to save you."_ Ursula walked up to him, staring into his red eyes. She put both hands on his face and closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his. She breathed in and out before her eyes glowed pink and Dark's eyes glowed red and then everything went black.

"So, what now?" Skyla asked the aura wielder.

"Now we wait. There's nothing much to do but wait." Korrina told her.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to send Ursula in there alone?"

"I'm not but you know as well as I do that they both need this. You and I have talked to both about their problems but they can barely talk to each other for 30 seconds before leaving." She stated. Korrina didn't like this anymore than Pilot did but it's already done.

"Let's hope she can bring him back."

"She'll bring him back…. I know she will." Skyla said with certainty in her voice.

 **Ash's Mindscape:**

Ursula opened her eyes and found herself in some type of room. The room was nothing much, all it had was a couch, chair, table and two doors. She noticed the difference between them. One was blue while the other one was red. She walked to both doors and looked at them both wondering which one leads to Ash.

"Okay which one leads to Ash?" she said. She placed her hand on the red doorknob and her eyes turned white for a second. A vision played in her head, she saw Dark again with his blood red eyes and fire in the background as he was laughing maniacally. She gasped in horror and took her hand off the doorknob.

"Okay don't go in the red one that's where Dark is. And the blue one…?" she grasped her hand on the other door and another vision played in her head. She saw a child curled up in a corner crying his eyes out. Ursula couldn't see his face but she recognized the child's hair, it was the same as Ash's which means….

"He's in this one." She said opening the door and walked in the dark room. She closed the door behind her and all light from the previous room just vanished.

"Okay it's dark in here. There has to be a light switch in here somewhere."

"Y-Y-You shouldn't b-be here." a voice called out to Ursula as she yelped. She couldn't see in the room so she looked for a light switch near the door. She felt something against her hand and figured that it must've been the light switch. She pushed it up and light entered the room. She looked around the room and saw the bed, closet, and window but she didn't see the child.

"What the… I was pretty sure that someone was in here." Ursula felt a tug on her skirt and looked down. She saw a boy no older than 4 looking up at her. He was wearing a t-shirt and grey shorts with socks. Ursula stared at him before she felt the child let go of her skirt and run into the closet.

"Hey, wait Ash come back." She called out to him but he shut the doors to the closet not coming out anytime soon. Ursula came to the closet and sat on her knees. She could her him crying through the doors.

"Ash, come on out will you?"

"N-No." he mumbled as he buried his head into his knees and had his arms wrapped around them.

"Ash, please come out. I'm here to bring you home." She said.

"No I-I can't g-go b-back."

"Why can't you go back?"

"I'm not telling you." He mumbled this got Ursula annoyed.

"Ash, don't tell me that you are not going say why you can't come back. I don't know what lies Dark told you but he's wrong we can help you." She told him.

"No, you can't. Just please go away." He pleaded.

 _"_ _Dang it Ash, why are you acting like this? Stop acting like a child!" she then paused at her previous thoughts. "Wait a minute, he's not acting like a child. He actually is one but how!?" she then remembered the door from earlier and their differences. Dark's door had tons of aura and was filled malice, hatred and killing intent. Ash's door had very little aura as if this is all he can hold on to with Dark in control."_ Ursula then realized that she can't rush Ash with this since he is a child, he's vulnerable and weak. He isn't strong enough to stop Dark on his own anymore, he needs help. She needs to approach this with what she should've done back home.

"Ash please come out and talk to me. I didn't mean to be mad at you, I'm just worried for you. You and I barely talked back in the real world but I want to change that. I don't want us to have this feeling of regret holding us back, you or me. I want to talk to my brother okay, so please come on out." she told him gently. She waited for him to come out but he didn't. She was saddened at this and was about to get up and leave but she heard the closet door open a bit as Ash looked at her only showing his head.

"D-Do you…. Do you mean it, you want to change things w-with me?" he asked carefully. He was shaking a bit, and he wanted to tell her everything that happened, he wanted to tell her he was sorry, he wanted her to forgive him.

Ursula could see through Ash's tears. He wanted this just as much as her. She opened her arms wide welcoming him for a hug. "I really mean it Ash. I won't go back home without you. Not without my brother." That was all Ash needed to hear. He felt tears welled up in his eyes and ran straight into Ursula wrapping his little arms tightly around her and feels her do the same.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorrryyyy." He mumbled against her chest. Ursula felt her own tears flow down her face as she hugged Ash. She wanted things to change. She wanted to reconnect with her brother. She would not make the same mistakes again.

"I'm sorry too Ash, I'm sorry too." She whispered as she pressed a kiss into his hair and went back rocking him back and forth.

 **With Skyla and Korrina:**

The girls were waiting patiently for their two to come back and out of the mindscape. As they waited they noticed something happening to them. Ash's red aura was replaced with a bright pink from Ursula's aura.

"Did she do it?" Skyla asked while Korrina just smiled.

"Yeah she did it. I knew she could. Now we take them back home and wait a little longer." Korrina told her.

"Okay then let's go." Skyla picked up Ash while Korrina picked up Ursula as Skyla opened a portal to their home.

"Huh weird."

"What is Korrina?"

"If anything, I thought you would want them out as soon as possible." She asked her. Skyla just shook her head at her.

"Of course I want them out, I can't but worry over them like a mother would. It's just like we agreed earlier they need this, we can't let them push each other apart anymore." She said showing worry on her face. She then continued her reasoning.

"Ash doesn't like to talk about his problems and tries to take it all on his own while Ursula's problems can be too much for her and she comes to us but clearly avoids Ash as if it's related to him. Now with Ursula and Ash alone besides the situation we are in, they both can finally let out all of their feelings towards each other." Skyla finished smiling softly at Korrina as she smiled back.

"Come on let's go home." Korrina said as she and Skyla walked through the portal and went back home.

 **Ash's Mindscape:**

Ursula and 4-year-old Ash were in the same position as before on the bed. She and Ash were feeling sleepy so they moved to it not too long ago when Ursula found the floor uncomfortable. So, she picked him up and both settled on the bed. They just sat there crying their eyes out to each other until there were no more tears. Ursula like the position they were in, she was comforting him when he needed it the most and he wasn't running away from her nor was she.

She had been waiting for Ash to talk when he was ready to. She's not gonna force him to tell her about his nightmares and he won't force her to do the same thing. So, she kept quiet and waited until he spoke to her. Although, he's asleep right now resting his head against her chest. She knew the tears would take a lot out of them both so they both got some rest.

She then heard a small groan and knew Ash was beginning to wake up. Instead of getting up he just went back to his pillow causing Ursula to laugh at his attempt of trying to go back to sleep.

"Morning Sleepyhead" she called out to him. Ash removed his head from her chest and stretched out his little arms as he yawned.

"Morning Sis" he said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes not noticing the small smile on Ursula's lips.

"How do you sleep?" he asked.

"I slept fine knowing my brother was with me." She answered.

"I slept great thanks to you." He answered back. Ash then frowned at what he was about to tell her…. why he left.

"Ursula" he called silently.

"What is it Ash?" she asked knowing what he was about to ask.

"When I tell you about my reasons for leaving, will you hate me?" he asked as he kept his head down. Ursula wasn't prepared for that question. Why would she hate him, if anything she hated Dark for giving Ash these nightmares? Ursula put a hand on his cheek turning his head to her, showing nothing but concern and understanding in her eyes.

"Sweetie, no matter what you tell me there is no way that I will hate you for it. I can say the same thing for Sky and Kori too." She said firmly. Ash just looked at her feeling tears welled up in his eyes again before wiping them away furiously with his arm. He leaned back into Ursula taking deep breaths before speaking.

"Before you three found me, I was talking to other me. Um..uhhhh" he was trying to remember who it was. He forgot that he was body and mind were that of a 4-year-old thanks to Dark. Ursula just giggled at his antics.

"IS it Dark?" she asked.

"Right, um him. That other me."

"What were you two talking about?"

"He said that he talked to middle sis and knew I was awake. He told me that he needed to show you that he wasn't just my thoughts, he was also me. Then he grabbed me with something and it swallowed me, everything was dark and I couldn't see." He said unconsciously moving his head further into Ursula. The latter tightened her hold on him and ran a hand through his hair trying to sooth him.

"After that I woke up in the middle of nowhere. I walked for a mile and saw that there was no one there but me, I thought I was alone and then…. then" he trailed off as he started shaking. He was afraid of going back there but he was also afraid of explaining of what happened there. He started to hyperventilate and just curled in on himself not wanting to see all those images.

Ursula noticing this, whispered soft words into his ear and tried to keep him calm. "Ash it's okay, calm down. You're not there okay, you're with me. Dark can't hurt you in here ok." She said softly. She could hear his breathing is slowly down telling her it's working. She continued with her ministrations in his hair waiting for him to finish.

"I smelled blood. I thought it was coming from me but it was from a dead body and it was fresh. I looked around and I saw so many there were people and Pokémon from the incident. I was so scared until…."

"Until what?" she asked knowing what was coming next.

"He showed me you guys. He explained to me how I-I k-k-killed all of you. You were the first, then Korrina and Skyla, he told me that he took over and I couldn't fight him anymore. He said that it was an inevitable future that was bound to happen." He finished feeling Ursula tightened her hold on him even more.

"I-I was so scared that he was right and that I-I-I would hurt you if I stayed around you any longer. I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay with the only family I have left but I wanted to protect you even more…... I'm sorry *sob* I'm so sorry Ursula. I DIDN'T WANT TO LOSE ANYONE ELSE." He shouted in the end and wrapped him arms as tight as he could around her sobbing into her chest. Ursula was angry. Not at Ash but at Dark and herself. Dark because he was playing mind games with Ash and tried to make him lose himself so he could be free. She would never forgive Dark and make sure he would never get the chance. Then there was herself. She knew these nightmares were happening but she never said anything to Ash. Being the idiot she was, she just ignored him thinking he would talk to Skyla and Korrina but that went nowhere.

"It's okay Ash, it's okay." She said softly. Ash stopped crying for a second and looked at her with teary eyes. He expected to see anger and disappointment in her eyes but instead they were full of sadness and understanding.

"You're n-not m-m-mad at me?" he asked. Ursula just giggled sadly and wiped away his tears.

"Ash, I could never be mad at you for something like this." She told him.

"But I left you guys."

"Tell me Ash, did you leave because of us or Dark?"

"I left because of Dark. He was going to hurt you or worse and I couldn't let happen. I would never let that happen my family, so…. I left." he answered carefully. Ursula just smiled at him happy that he thought of protecting them.

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Huh?" he questioned while tilting his head.

"Ash, if me, Sky or Kori were in your position we would do the same thing you just did. We would protect thinking it was for the best."

"But Ash you forgot one thing…..."

"I…did."

"Yes, it's family. We are all family now. We fight together and we stay together." She said caressing his face with her hands.

"Ash I want you to promise me something, from now on no matter what happens if there is anything that you need to talk about to someone you tell all of us. I don't want to lose you again." She said firmly. She wasn't going to let Dark win and lose Ash again not this time.

"Okay I promise Ursula." He said.

"You promise what?" she asked playfully.

"I promise that I will tell you girls that if I have any problems I'll go to you right away." The 4-year-old told her smiling brightly. Ursula pressed her lips gently against his forehead before getting up off the bed.

"Come on, let's go home. I'm sure Skyla and Korrina want to see you again." she said holding her hand out to him. He grasped her hand and they both walked towards the door. As they opened it, they were both engulfed in a bright light waking them up from this mindscape.

 **Skyla and Korrina (Living Room):**

The girls waited patiently for their younglings to come back to them. Korrina was mediating while keeping an eye on the two in case anything change. Skyla was sitting on the floor, sharpening her knives while looking back and forth at the two. They heard a small groan coming from Ursula as she woke up and sat up on the couch. She turned her eyes and looked at her surroundings and found herself back in their home.

"Ribbons, you're okay!" Korrina said leaving the floor and tightly hugged the young girl.

"Yeah I'm okay." She told her before Skyla interrupted.

"but what about Ash?" her question was answered as she heard him answer.

"I'm okay." He said. Next thing that happened Skyla grabbed Ash and pulled him into a tight hug not letting go of him anytime soon.

"Oh Ash, I'm so glad you're okay." She said happy before her mood change into one of disapproval. Ash knew what was coming next which was the scolding.

"What were you thinking jumping out of that window and running away from here!? Do you know how worried we were about you, we thought you went missing." She said looking at him. Ash just looked up at her in sadness. Then Korrina added in her piece.

"Ash I know that you wanted to be alone but you can't always avoid us whenever we try to talk to you about your problems." She said with a little anger in her voice. Ash just looked down feeling guilty for his actions.

"Hey, you two back off!" Ursula yelled angrily at the two catching them off guard. She knew they were worried but Ash just came back to them and right now he didn't need a scolding from them.

"Look I know you too were worried but that is no reason to go off on him like that. He just came back from being trapped in his own mind and right now the last thing he needs is a scolding." She told them calming down. She then got up and walked over the Sky and Ash.

"Besides, Ash has something to tell you. And this time he won't run away." She said smiling at him and grasping his hand. Ash looked up and knew she was right. He was done running away from his problems or trying to protect them on his own, they are a family and they need to do this together.

"Right okay, this started after Skyla left my room." he started and told everything that happened up to now. He paused a bit when came to his vision with Dark and them but was comforted by Ursula giving his hand a soft squeeze and Skyla tightening her hold on him. He finished his story and was met with faces of sadness from Korrina and Skyla.

"Ash, I'm so sorry. I should've watched over a lot better than you wouldn't have had those nightmares." Skyla said with tears in her eyes as she hugged Ash as tight as she could.

"I'm sorry too Ash, If I had interacted with Dark sooner then, none of this would've happened." Korrina said wiping away her own tears. Ursula knew that they now understood of what he was going through and what they had to do to help him keep his sanity.

"It's okay. I'm just sorry I've never talked with you about it but that's about to change. I made two promises that I plan on keeping and I won't break it." He said grinning at them. Korrina, Skyla and Ursula just smiled back at him happy that he was starting to go back to his old self.

"So, what happens now?" Ursula asked. "I mean not only do we have to watch out for those dead green Pokémon but we also have to watch out for anyone else that's out there."

"We'll be ready for them. As for the soulless Pokémon, we'll find a way to send them to peace since none of them are alive anymore." Korrina said.

"Don't worry you guys, we're hunters after all. We can do this." Ash said as he set his hand in the middle of the room. Ursula set her hand on top of his, then Korrina and Skyla.

"Now let's go!" he shouted.

"Right!" they all shouted together.

This was a new adventure for them, as their goal is now to search for other survivors and send dead Pokémon to their resting place. This time no one was doing anything alone, they will do this together as a family.


End file.
